daverea.com

After learning last night that some folks have actually been checking out my training posts here, I guess a quick mention of how it went is in store! The best assessment might be the look on our faces in these photos:

As it turns out, the training time I put in this year paid off: I finished the sport class race in 52 minutes, 20 seconds – an improvement over last year’s time over almost 19 minutes! In all, it was a fantastically fun race, and it set the bar for how hard I can push myself. Jason showed some time improvement, too – he clocked in at 47:30, shaving several minutes of his 2009 time.

You can check out more photos from the race at dougrea.com.

Right around this time tomorrow morning, I should be biting into my second lap around the Fat Tire Festival course. And at the moment, it appears there will only be two laps in the race; an embarrassed-sounding e-mail from GROC, yesterday, revised the lap count back to last year’s tally. So, 10 miles of pedals, brakes, dirt and lactic acid…here we come!

…another post in a series of updates on Fat Tire Festival training rides.

This update will be brief, as my alarm is set – by necessity – to an ungodly hour tomorrow. Got the hydration pack all fixed up, tossed some Clif Bloks in my pocket and headed out for my final Fat Tire training ride. Three laps, 1 hour and 37 minutes. I was hoping for under 30 minutes per lap, but by the time I finished, I was just glad I’d gotten through it!

Apparently my GPS app (Google MyTracks) crashed a little ways into the second lap, so the map below – aside from looking a hell of a lot like all the previous maps – doesn’t really show the full extent of the agony…

Tomorrow and Friday I’ll be staying clear of the bike, and a few short hours after a big spaghetti dinner on Friday night, it’ll be time to hit the trails for the real deal! If I haven’t already badgered you by e-mail, consider this your invitation to come on out to the Fat Tire Festival, have some chow, enjoy some music, make some noise and watch Jason and I beat ourselves to a pulp! The show starts at 9:05AM on Saturday the 17th.

…another post in a series of updates on Fat Tire Festival training rides.

If today’s ride can be summed up in one word, I would have trouble choosing between “calamity” and “trainwreck” … It started off with my skipping the usual route through the sports fields, since some sort of day camp had transposed several hundred kids onto them. My start was interrupted by the realization that I’d forgotten to leave my wallet in the car, and my first climb by the realization that nature was calling. Crossing the fields at the highest point on the course, I went for a drink and realized the Nalgene-type bite valve on my hydration pack was in the “off” position – and managed to pull it clean off the hose when I hit a bump trying to twist it to “on”.

This resulted in a brief shower as I grabbed a handful of brake and dragged the bike to a stop, then pinched off the tube. After five minutes’ worth of searching left me empty-handed, I tried blowing air into the tube and pressing on – only to get drenched a few more times. After climbing the next hill, I opted to dump most of the water and cut the ride down to one lap of the course. About 50 ounces of water lighter, I pushed through the rest of the first lap.

• Date: July 12th, 2010
• Distance: 5 miles
• Time: 32:13
• Elevation gain: 645 feet
• Thoughts on starting: This is going to be a good ride. Has to be. It’s too nice a day for anything else.
• Thoughts on finishing: This is why we train! To work out the kinks!

Of course, when I got home, I checked out the Fat Tire Festival web site and made a startling realization: The sport-class race is actually three laps of the course, not the two I’ve been planning for! This weekend…will be very interesting!

(The middle photo shows my bite valve search effort…)

This…

…is not what I had in mind for Fat Tire training ride 5.

We don’t get to control the weather on race-day, and that’s a perfectly good reason to go train in the rain, but with the amount of water hitting the ground today, I’d rather not tear up the trails. This weekend will bring a 45-mile skinny-tire hike around Keuka Lake, so unless things miraculously clear up before about 7PM, training ride 5 will be happening on Monday.

…another post in a series of updates on Fat Tire Festival training rides.

Far more prepared for a ride than when I set out on #3, yesterday’s training ride went surprisingly well – despite the 96° temperature outside! I made sure to prehydrate before hand, and took some extra time to stretch. Ride #4 was my first two-lap attempt.

Training Ride 4

• Date: July 7th, 2010
• Distance: 10 miles
• Time: 1:07:04 (including warm-up and two holy-crap-sweaty-eyes-can’t-see stops)
• Elevation gain: 1,544 feet
• Thoughts on starting: Just go slow. This isn’t the race. Just have fun. Really. I mean it.
• Thoughts on finishing: Yeah, two laps hurts about twice as much as one lap hurts…

Interestingly, I think I felt a true, honest-to-goodness “second wind” about 60% of the way through this ride. It didn’t feel like I expected – a big burst of “I can do anything!” energy – actually, it was more like a sudden transition from “not being there” to “being there”. I went from repeatedly reminding myself not to stare at the ground passing below my bottom bracket (“that’s history by the time you’ve seen it!”) to actually being in the ride again! Of course, it only lasted ’till about 80% of the distance, but that was enough to get me through the toughest of the climbs, and on my way to the final descent.

A few days ago, my dear friend Jason e-mailed to remind me that the annual Fat Tire Festival bike race is just a few weeks away… Considering how last year’s race went (hint for the impatient: I came in 54th, and 12th in my class/age-group at 1:10:33), I figure this year I should probably do a little training to prepare for it. It seems Jason has had the same idea, and has been posting training updates (yay!) on his until-recently-long-dormant blog…

They say imitation is the purest form of flattery, so, here are the results of my first two training runs – though taking a slightly more whimsical approach than Jason’s updates…

Training Ride 1

• Date: June 21st, 2010
• Time: 29 minutes
• Rundown: I got lost twice, missed a turn and chopped off about 10% of the course, and hit a tree.
• Thoughts on starting: I can do this, no problem, maybe I’ll do two laps today!
• Thoughts on finishing: *gasp* Holy *wheeze* crap *gasp* I’m *cough* out *gasp* of *sputter* shape!

Training Ride 2

• Date: June 26th, 2010
• Time: 32:53 (including an extra turn around the hockey rink)
• Rundown: I actually stayed on the course, and realized just how out of shape I [still] am. But, on the bright side, I didn’t hit any trees, and did the whole ride in my middle chainring!
• Thoughts on starting: Today has to be better than Monday.
• Thoughts on finishing: I’ll probably die part way through my first attempt at a second lap!

I think it’s apparent that I’ve got a ways to go by July 17th – but with 3 rides a week, and some runs and road rides to balance things out, I think I stand a decent chance of shaving some minutes off last year’s time… Now: will you come out and cheer??

In Tuesday’s edition of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, a letter to the editor was printed that didn’t sit too well with me…

Pedestrians and cyclists a bad mix

On March 24, I took a hike on the Quaker Pond Trail at Mendon Ponds Park, a trail on which bicycles are not allowed, according to the signs. I was unpleasantly surprised to be forced off the trail by two men on off-road bikes who barreled past at high speed. In addition to biking on a trail where they shouldn’t have been, they were quite rude. When I politely pointed out that bikes aren’t allowed on that trail, one of them cursed at me. The wet parts of the trail are being heavily rutted by mountain bikes. The Monroe County Parks Department needs to do a much better job of enforcing its rules on bikes.

I am aware that the county has plans for shared-use pedestrian and bike trails in some parks as a result of intense lobbying by Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists. In my opinion, pedestrians and cyclists are not a happy mix. They get in each other’s way, and someone is bound to get hurt.

—JAY GREENBERG
BRIGHTON

So, I decided to write a response. In case they decide not to publish it, I figured I’d post it here as well:

I was dismayed to read “Pedestrians and cyclists a bad mix” in Tuesday’s edition. While Jay Greenberg and other outspoken Rochester Birding Society members have sought to paint off-road cyclists as out-of-control thrill-seekers, experiences in neighboring counties and across the country paint a decidedly friendlier picture: Those on two wheels are just another set of respectful trail users.

While off-road cyclists are the second-largest group of trail users nationwide, one need only look to Ontario County to see multi-use trails enjoyed by pedestrians and cyclists alike. Rather than ostracizing entire classes of taxpayers and creating an adversarial environment via public policy, park officials there welcome cyclists and encourage cooperative trail use.

As an off-road cyclist, I’m disappointed that Mr. Greenberg’s reported experience reflects poorly on the larger community of riders who courteously enjoy the precious few multi-use trails in our region. Before forming an opinion based on his letter, I hope others will take the opportunity to visit the excellent nearby parks that practice inclusion, rather than exclusion, of all who seek to enjoy them.

—DAVID REA
PITTSFORD

The standard yield sign that graces multi-use trails nationwide