Texas 400k notes
Mar. 18th, 2014 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So, the 400k. You know, I used to write a full narrative of my brevet experiences, but recently I haven't felt like that's quite so necessary. Instead, I'll just write a collection of thoughts again.
First, here's an overview of our route:

This time, I traced out a copy of the route onto my favorite Map of Central Texas, to familiarize myself with it before we hit the road. It came in quite handy; it's much easier to pinpoint one's location and progress on the paper map compared to the GPS. But even then, we only had to check the GPS once, and only had to check the paper map once. The 300k in February covered much of the same territory, and we also had the company of a bunch of the rest of the riders to keep us on course through many of the early twists and turns. On top of that, my trip odometer readings remained spot-on for the entire brevet!
Here are the only two photos I took:


During the ride, it seemed like a better idea to remain focused on the riding and the surroundings, especially given my dicey condition towards the beginning.
Despite my concern, the weather for the brevet was perfect. The riders who went out for the full 600k experienced strong crosswinds on Sunday, but my worries about having to deal with thunderstorms and potential tornadoes were unfounded. It was interesting to hear a couple of the riders talk about a prior brevet where they discovered, after the fact, that they had been chasing a tornado into Belleville. At the time, all they knew was that it took all of their attention and energy to keep their bicycles traveling straight through heavy wind and rain. I don't know if the story makes me feel less crazy for the time I made
scrottie ride from campus to my house through tornado weather, or if the story just makes me feel like I'm in league with other, equally crazy people. Who knows.
But back to Saturday's weather - we had clouds and light rain through the morning, then clear skies through the afternoon and evening, then what I'd call more "falling humidity" through the night - conditions where the humidity reaches 100% and so tiny water droplets fly through the air and land all over one's glasses, making it challenging to see.
I'm still concerned about May's 600k, because I know I start to wilt when the weather gets warmer, and during the 400k I was barely managing to stay properly hydrated despite many refills of the Camelbak. At one point, when we were still with the group and stopped for a flat, one of the riders pointed at my helmet and asked, skeptically, if I was planning to keep riding with it through the summer. I felt compelled to say, probably not. While I really, really like my helmet for its rain-shedding properties and the fact that I can easily remove the liner and throw it in the wash, it's on the heavy side for a long-distance ride and I'll probably want better ventilation in warmer weather. So, that needs to go back on the shopping list.
I am also thinking about putting a trunk bag on the shopping list, because with the pannier I know I'm still riding with a too-heavy load because the pannier has too much room. The pannier was still a thousand times better than the enormous, wobbly "croissant" saddle bag, though. I think a trunk bag would give me both the ease of access and capacity I want, for carrying my burrito collection.
One of the hardest sections of the brevet for us was the stretch between Moulton and Alleyton - miles 160 through to 210. The sun went down as we approached Moulton (a gorgeous sunset and moonrise!), so we were in the dark as we tackled a series of rolling hills along Farm Road 532. The Texas brevets differ considerably from Arizona brevets in that most of the terrain consists of short, rolling hills. The longest hill we tackled was only maybe 0.5-1 mile long. That means the Texas terrain is better preparation for the terrain on the Paris-Brest-Paris. But that's also the kind of riding I feel like I struggle with the most.
During the PBP, I spent time observing how many of the European riders approached the hilly terrain. One group of riders in particular had a well-defined system: at the bottom, they would all stand and climb for a period. Then, at some predetermined point, they would downshift, sit back down, and spin the rest of the way up, and then they'd all pretty much coast down the downhill sections. This meant they were using different muscle groups and changing posture frequently, which probably helped minimize fatigue of any one particular muscle group. I don't know how they decided to switch between the stand-and-climb and sit-and-spin, but I'm awfully curious about it, and about how they tackled the more extended climbs.
I started to try out their method on the PBP, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure that was the best venue to experiment. I didn't have the right bike shoes, I realize in retrospect, and my stand-and-climb efforts there definitely contributed to my knee problems. In contrast, when I did a bit more of the stand-and-climb on Saturday's 400k, overall I felt much more comfortable, and I know it was a good break for my poor, sore sit bones. It's still a little tricky to stand-and-climb without having my knee hit the bar-end shifters, but this is something I think I'll work on in the upcoming weeks before the 600k. I've just never been much of a stand-and-climber. I have to wonder if there are any good resources to read up on riding techniques that might help me develop more such tools for my long-distance riding toolbox. Edit: I see the Hill Country Randonneuring site recommending The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling!
One last note: my bicycling equipment held up well for the ride. No more broken spokes, thank goodness! No flat tires. The rear wheel retained enough tension that it didn't rub against the rear fender even when I was standing, hallelujah. I still need to work on my poor old squeaky pedals, and I definitely need to rewrap the bar tape, but I'm so very, very happy with Froinlavin as my Randonneuring bike. It feels good to be on the right bicycle.
First, here's an overview of our route:

This time, I traced out a copy of the route onto my favorite Map of Central Texas, to familiarize myself with it before we hit the road. It came in quite handy; it's much easier to pinpoint one's location and progress on the paper map compared to the GPS. But even then, we only had to check the GPS once, and only had to check the paper map once. The 300k in February covered much of the same territory, and we also had the company of a bunch of the rest of the riders to keep us on course through many of the early twists and turns. On top of that, my trip odometer readings remained spot-on for the entire brevet!
Here are the only two photos I took:


During the ride, it seemed like a better idea to remain focused on the riding and the surroundings, especially given my dicey condition towards the beginning.
Despite my concern, the weather for the brevet was perfect. The riders who went out for the full 600k experienced strong crosswinds on Sunday, but my worries about having to deal with thunderstorms and potential tornadoes were unfounded. It was interesting to hear a couple of the riders talk about a prior brevet where they discovered, after the fact, that they had been chasing a tornado into Belleville. At the time, all they knew was that it took all of their attention and energy to keep their bicycles traveling straight through heavy wind and rain. I don't know if the story makes me feel less crazy for the time I made
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But back to Saturday's weather - we had clouds and light rain through the morning, then clear skies through the afternoon and evening, then what I'd call more "falling humidity" through the night - conditions where the humidity reaches 100% and so tiny water droplets fly through the air and land all over one's glasses, making it challenging to see.
I'm still concerned about May's 600k, because I know I start to wilt when the weather gets warmer, and during the 400k I was barely managing to stay properly hydrated despite many refills of the Camelbak. At one point, when we were still with the group and stopped for a flat, one of the riders pointed at my helmet and asked, skeptically, if I was planning to keep riding with it through the summer. I felt compelled to say, probably not. While I really, really like my helmet for its rain-shedding properties and the fact that I can easily remove the liner and throw it in the wash, it's on the heavy side for a long-distance ride and I'll probably want better ventilation in warmer weather. So, that needs to go back on the shopping list.
I am also thinking about putting a trunk bag on the shopping list, because with the pannier I know I'm still riding with a too-heavy load because the pannier has too much room. The pannier was still a thousand times better than the enormous, wobbly "croissant" saddle bag, though. I think a trunk bag would give me both the ease of access and capacity I want, for carrying my burrito collection.
One of the hardest sections of the brevet for us was the stretch between Moulton and Alleyton - miles 160 through to 210. The sun went down as we approached Moulton (a gorgeous sunset and moonrise!), so we were in the dark as we tackled a series of rolling hills along Farm Road 532. The Texas brevets differ considerably from Arizona brevets in that most of the terrain consists of short, rolling hills. The longest hill we tackled was only maybe 0.5-1 mile long. That means the Texas terrain is better preparation for the terrain on the Paris-Brest-Paris. But that's also the kind of riding I feel like I struggle with the most.
During the PBP, I spent time observing how many of the European riders approached the hilly terrain. One group of riders in particular had a well-defined system: at the bottom, they would all stand and climb for a period. Then, at some predetermined point, they would downshift, sit back down, and spin the rest of the way up, and then they'd all pretty much coast down the downhill sections. This meant they were using different muscle groups and changing posture frequently, which probably helped minimize fatigue of any one particular muscle group. I don't know how they decided to switch between the stand-and-climb and sit-and-spin, but I'm awfully curious about it, and about how they tackled the more extended climbs.
I started to try out their method on the PBP, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure that was the best venue to experiment. I didn't have the right bike shoes, I realize in retrospect, and my stand-and-climb efforts there definitely contributed to my knee problems. In contrast, when I did a bit more of the stand-and-climb on Saturday's 400k, overall I felt much more comfortable, and I know it was a good break for my poor, sore sit bones. It's still a little tricky to stand-and-climb without having my knee hit the bar-end shifters, but this is something I think I'll work on in the upcoming weeks before the 600k. I've just never been much of a stand-and-climber. I have to wonder if there are any good resources to read up on riding techniques that might help me develop more such tools for my long-distance riding toolbox. Edit: I see the Hill Country Randonneuring site recommending The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling!
One last note: my bicycling equipment held up well for the ride. No more broken spokes, thank goodness! No flat tires. The rear wheel retained enough tension that it didn't rub against the rear fender even when I was standing, hallelujah. I still need to work on my poor old squeaky pedals, and I definitely need to rewrap the bar tape, but I'm so very, very happy with Froinlavin as my Randonneuring bike. It feels good to be on the right bicycle.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-19 02:57 am (UTC)It's great to hear that the rear wheel's behaving. What did you change?
no subject
Date: 2014-03-19 02:14 pm (UTC)In great contrast to you and me,
no subject
Date: 2014-03-19 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-20 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-20 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-20 04:20 am (UTC)I don't produce any power at under 70 rpm. I can't stay with people. But when I'm at 100 rpm, no problem. Weird.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-21 02:52 pm (UTC)I feel like I experienced the wrath of God on 529 Sunday morning. It took most of the strength I had to hold the bike straight in the crosswind.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-21 03:25 pm (UTC)And yeah, that crosswind sounded BRUTAL! In conditions like that, I have to constantly remind myself to just keep pedaling, and eventually I'll get there.
J and I went on a training ride recently where the headwind was so strong that I said it would make more sense to think of the ride as being a ride on trainers, except the scenery actually moved a little bit while we pedaled.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-22 01:03 am (UTC)Times I'm glad I don't have a disc wheel...
no subject
Date: 2014-03-20 03:59 am (UTC)