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This is my 10th year in randonneuring. Five times I have completed the super randonneur series of 200k, 300k, 400k and 600k. I have set a good this spring of completing another PA series, which would be my fourth, in addition to my two series completed in NJ. Saturday was the 300k, leaving out of the familar Weisel Youth Hostel in Quakertown, PA.
There were 30 riders who began the 300k route and three others who opted for 200k. I now had two 200ks completed over the past month or so, but my mileage was still under 1000 for the year, so I had lingering questions about my endurance. It seems as though there is a rule of 2/3rds in play here. If you have successfully completed 2/3rds of the distance in an earlier ride, you are decently prepared for the extra length.
The super randonneur series is well calibrated to building endurance. I’m not saying that you don’t have to put in other miles to be ready, but to some extent just completing the 200k gets you ready for the 300, which prepares you for the 400, etc. But no matter how many times you complete the series, it seems like a daunting task when you’re doing it.
I’d completed a PA 200k with Roy in late March, and struggled to keep up with him. At that time I had gone seven months without riding any brevets, as family commitments made it impossible for me to ride long distances. We finished the ride in 9:55, which put us in the bottom third. Given the strong, determined riders that RBA Tom Rosenbauer attracts for the PA rides, there is certainly no disgrace in that. But I thought I was feeling strong in the last couple of weeks and thought I could do better on the 300k.
The 4:00 a.m. start was tough. It was dark, I only got 2 hours of sleep and I kept worrying that I forgot something. (I had, but only a bandanna, not a helmet or shoes.) I started with the pack but then my frame pump fell off the bike, as I hit a big pothole. By the time I remounted, the main pack was gone. That was just as well, as I wanted to pace myself on this ride.
I decided to aim for a time below 15:00. Last year I rode with Shane and Roy and we finished in 15:05, but I had nearly twice as many miles in my legs. During the first 38-mile leg of the 188-mile course, I picked my way through the last half of the field, until I caught a large pack of about a dozen rideers in Bethlehem PA at the bottom of the Route 378 hill. I rode with that pack until the first controle, where we arrived just as the convenience store was opening.
Walt P., who also had not been riding as much lately, joined me for the start of the second leg, but his usually very strong climbing legs were not there yet and I pulled ahead on the climb of Blue Mountain. I past several riders on the climb and then caught three more at the foot of the descent, including Dan B., a PBP finisher last year who decided to ride with me. We would end up staying together the rest of the ride. I told him about my sub-15 hour goal, but he wasn’t convinced he was going to be able to do it.
Walt caught back up a little before the second controle at mile 68, which was the apple pie and hot dog place in Water Gap, PA. It turns out that there were about eight riders in front of us of the 30 starters. At the start of the next leg, Dan was convinced we had taken a wrong turn. I called out to him that it was correct, but he was confused and continued to backtrack down a hill. Not wishing to add an extra hill, I kept on and shortly after the crossing of the Delaware into NJ, I caught up to Frederick C., and we ended up staying together, along with Dan, who caught up at the Hainesville control.
My power meter wasn’t working so I was just judging speed by my watch and the cue sheet. We reached the half-way point at mile 94 in about 7 hours. That meant that we could break 15 hours with a 9-hour second half. That sounded reasonable, although my legs were already protesting loudly. Somehow, though, we kept going through the next two controles at a slightly lower pace and made it back to the hostel in 14:57, having achieved my goal. It was Frederick’s longest ride to date, so quite an accomplishment for him. Dan has completed many PA 300ks but he still seemed happy with the result this time. This time we finished in the top third, which for me is always a challenge on one of Tom’s rides.
I definitely could feel I was getting some endurance back, which is a good thing. Now it’s on the PA 400k in two weeks and then the 600k two weeks after that.
Jud
During the cold weather months of November through March, I spend a good deal of my exercise time on the stationary bike. It has a calorie counter that my TrainingPeaks software converts to watts, so I can get a pretty fair wattage reading for my workouts. I can even compare inside riding with outside riding.
Inside riding presents certain problems, particularly too little motivation and too much heat. Unless you have a nice strong fan blowing at your face, which I can’t seem to rig at the gym, you end up in pools of sweat after 20 minutes. You can get the automatic rush of air outside on the bike. The problems outside depend upon whether you ride alone. Riding alone, motivation and road conditions are the problems. Riding in groups, it’s watching out for the group and road conditions.
Yesterday I missed the local group ride so I plotted out a 90-minute course that was flat to rolling. My target was to average 180 watts each way. I ended up averaging 187 watts for 90 minutes, my best performance for that time period in 2002 and just four watts off my best performance for 2011. The splits were pretty even on the first and last half. though slightest stronger on the first half.
Concentration always plays a big role in time trialing, inside or out. There are distractions constantly that can lower your power output. Sometimes you have to slow down because you’re turning into traffic or avoiding a pothole or other obstacle. Red lights are particularly frustrating. Invariable you break your rhythm, having to slow down and stop, then start again. I lose a watt or two each time, which can take miles to claw back.
For generating sheer power, nothing beats a good steep hill. My best 90-minute power reading ever was during a race up Mount Washington in July 2006, where I finished in 1 hour, 29 minutes and 20 seconds for an average wattage of 229. The combination of the steep grade and the incentive to keep up with your fellow riders is hard to beat for motivation.
In the same way, I usually ride my fastest and strongest trying to keep up with a spirited group ride. That’s why yesterday’s results were especially heartening. It was probably the highest wattage I’d done for 90 minutes alone in a few years.
Jud
When my local cycling friend Roy and I set out from Milford, N.J. on the PA Blue Mountain 200k yesterday morning at 7 a.m., I had a lot of hopes and a lot of questions. I hoped that riding only 324 miles in three months in 2012 would not cause my legs to desert me over 125 miles in one day. I hoped that having ridden no more than 53 miles in a single day since early October would not leave me unable to handle the inevitable pain the first long ride of the season brings. Most of all, I questioned my own commitment to the sport of randonneuring. Was this really worth suffering for?
For the first 55 miles or so, through the first two controles, I was smart enough not to push the pace. My threshold power is 250 watts. To avoid blowing up, I scrupulously stayed below it, even on steep grades like the one near Phillipsburg in the early stages of the ride. But the climb of Blue Mountain at mile 57, and resulting pain, convinced me to pick up the pace to get the climb over with. I averaged 265 watts for the last five minutes of that climb, the hardest I pushed myself all day.
Once that climb was over, the pain in my legs really intensified and I mentally was ready for the ride to be over. But I had more than 70 miles left. Luckily, Roy stayed with me the whole ride and I drafted off of him a good bit, which helped a lot. But even Roy couldn’t bring me back all on his own. I would have to drag myself back to the starting point on my own steam, in my own pain.
Then a small miracle happened, somewhere around mile 70 or so. Somehow, I managed to reach a sort of equilibrium that long-distance riding can sometimes produce. You’re in pain, your legs are stiff and you are far from your strongest, but you keep going, controle to controle, mile to mile. You keep the cranks turning, as organizer Tom R. likes to say.
The last time I rode anything longer than a metric was last August 13, probably my strongest day of 2011 on a bike. I finished a ride of about the same difficulty, the PA Water Gap 200k, in 8:45, one of my fastest times, at a power average of 161 watts, third best ever for me on a 200k. If I had not done that ride, if I had never done a 200k, or if I didn’t know the hills in this area, I’m not sure I would have finished yesterday.
But memory can aid an out of shape rider. I had no real endurance built up and I found myself in constant pain for the last half, but somehow I knew how to keep going. I wasn’t sure I’d find that place, but I did. Roy and I rolled in to the finish with a time of 9 hours and 55 minutes, which was a remarkable accomplishment for me. It was only, in fact, about an hour and 1o minutes later than that strong August ride.
The power numbers were nothing compared to that ride, course. One loses a lot in seven months. I averaged 125 watts this time, a dropoff of more than 15 percent. But my split wasn’t so bad. I averaged 132 watts for the first half and 119 for the second. Yes, my last climb of Staats Road at mile 117 was a masterpiece of positive thinking and fear of embarrassment. I won’t get off and walk, I said. I won’t get off and walk. I had ridden that climb many times and I don’t remember ever walking it before. I didn’t walk it yesterday, either.
As I sometimes do on such climbs, I refused to look too far down the road, for fear of being demoralized by the grade and the distance. Somehow, I struggled to the top. Even if I had to get off, which I have done on other rides on other days, it would not have spoiled this day. My body feels the familiar fatigue today. But I can feel it getting stronger. I even felt it getting stronger during the ride, in the middle of the pain, if you can believe it. Most importantly, in my head, I answered the biggest question: I still want to finish these rides. And that means I’ll probably be back for more.
Jud
This morning I tried a 20-minute threshold workout on the spinner at the gym. I started the winter doing these once or twice a week and in early February set new indoor wattage highs for 20 minutes (258w) and an hour (233w). Then I got bronchitis and I hadn’t tried to do threshold work in six weeks or so.
I did a 10-minute warmup gradually going from level 6 to level 11 on the machine (I need level 11 at about 90 rpm to generate 250 watts) and tried to keep a 70kcal pace for each five minutes). I was right on schedule with the first five minutes (70 kcal) but struggled to get to 10 minutes and began considering a stop. But I decided to try to finish the first half, knowing that if I dropped out I seldom did in the second half. I finished the first half in 141 kcal, one above my goal pace.
The third segment I did in 71 kcal, giving me two above the target. The last section I did in 76kcal, which showed I had a little something left at the end after all. I finished at 287 kcal, or 239 watts. Not a great showing compared to my peak, but quite encouraging under the circumstances, four days before the PA 200k.
Jud
When I last posted on February 2, 2012, I had just that day broken a new record by averaging 258 watts on the spinner for 20 minutes (off the spinner my record is 289). A few days later, I reached a record 233 watts for an hour on the spinner (off the record is still 250 watts on the 2005 Whiteface Mountain Race). I was obviously in good shape then, but the past six weeks have eroded a lot of that. The past three weeks I have struggled with bronchitis and I just got back to serious riding this weekend.
I rode 53 miles on the Frenchtown practice ride yesterday. We had a group of 12, including five newcomers to randonneuring, along with seven returning regulars. That’s a nice mix, although the great weather should have encouraged more to participate. Two years ago, with weather less appealing, we drew 30 to this event.
This is the first step of what I hope will result in successful completion of all four Pennsylvania brevets (200k, 300k, 400k and 600k) I’ve completed a full PA series three times before (in 2007, 2009 and 2010), but never with this little of base effort. To date, even with the 65 miles this weekend, I have a grand total of 324 miles for 2012. That’s about half of what I normally have. The ride yesterday, which included Adamic Hill Road, was my first truly hilly course since September.
The power numbers showed how far I have fallen due to lack of riding. I averaged 142 watts regular power and 178 normalized power. I have previously done this ride in 165/210, which is about 15 percent higher. That’s quite a dropoff, but it doesn’t particularly worry me. I was more concerned about losing my mental edge or going too hard and injuring myself.
When you start these comebacks, you are long on enthusiasm for riding, but short on patience and caution. It is no accident that most of the sore knees I get I get in the spring. Yesterday I held sometime back on Adamic (273 watts compared with 307 last year, but 273 was still my best since last fall) and managed to finish the ride about the time I was running on empty. I didn’t force anything, though.
Next week I plan to tackle the PA Blue Mountain 200k, because the regular PA 200k event on April 21st conflicts with the Princeton 200k, which I am organizing. I’ll have to curb my enthusiasm and ramp up my patience, as my comeback continues. It’s great that life is allowing me a little more time on the bike again.
Jud
One of my resolutions for 2012 is to resume regular entries in this blog. Today I got up rather anxious from various stresses at home and work. I drove to the gym and decided to ride a hard spin for 20 minutes, a typical workout I usually do once or twice a week. It doesn’t take long and it keeps me at my threshold power and heartrate. I don’t usually do this more than once a week during the off-season, but have been using it more frequently lately, partly to burn off stress.
My power numbers have been steadily rising since December, from 238 watts to 251 to 253 last Thursday. Not far from my best ever of 257. I wasn’t feeling very strong this morning. I’d only managed 245 on Tuesday this week. Two days wasn’t much rest. On the other hand, sometimes you get on a roll. I decided to do the first 5 minutes very hard and see what happened. Either my legs would give out or I would make a try at the record.
I spent 10 minutes warming up at an ever harder pace. Then I began my 20-minute torture. The first few minutes are the worst. My legs aren’t stretched out yet and it really hurts. Sometimes the hurt gets the better of me and sometimes I seem to find more smoothness as time goes on. I made it through the first five minutes at 76 kcal, just one kcal behind a pace to match the 257 watt record for 20 minutes. I reached the halfway point at 152 kcal, one kcal better than my previous record for the first 10 minutes. Either I was challenging for a new record or I’d blow up soon.
I passed the 15-minute mark with a 77 kcal reading for the third five-minute block, so I was getting faster. I sprinted the last minute and finished the last five-minute leg at a record 80 kcal. My total of 309 kcal (which translates to 258 watts) was a new high and my last half of 157 kcal tied the previous high.
Riding well indoors is not a perfect predictor of riding outdoors. But a 258-watt effort for 20 minutes is impressive for me. It is exactly the same reading as for my best climb of Fox Gap in Pennsylvania. It compares with readings I get during the Whiteface Mountain uphill bike race.
Riding indoors requires a lot of internal motivation. On the other hand, there are fewer distractions, such as traffic lights, passing cars and potholes.
About all I can say is, I am in good shape for Groundhog Day. I hope I’m not burning out. There is a fine line there.
Jud
For the past 10 years or so, I have structured my riding plans for each year around a key goal or two. Whether it was the 100-mile, 10,000 elevation gain Hillier Than Thou time trial in September, the 12 percent, 8-mile climb of Mt. Washington in August, or a special event like the PA 1200k or the 400-mile hillfest of Quadzilla, my goals were clear and my training focused on them.
Now my life is more fractured and I have responsibilities to my family that don’t allow as much scheduling flexibility. I am scaling down my goals for 2012. I now plan a full brevet series and and a series of other rides, including the Whiteface Mountain race and possible some centuries. I intend to stay in good shape, though I probably won’t have the edge of some previous years.
Frankly, the most important thing is that I’m still on the bike enjoying myself after more than 80,000 lifetime miles in the saddle.
Jud
I will probably fall just short of 5,000 miles for the year, quite a large total of miles on a bike by almost any measure. But for me, it’s the lowest total in nine years. In fact, the last time I did not reach at least 5600 miles was in 2002, the year before I started randonneuring.
This year, family and work issues combined to make it impossible to spend as much time on the bike as before. But comparatively speaking, I still rode a lot. The two previous years, 2009 and 2010, I had finished with about 7200 miles each, close to my all-time high. So the drop was about 30 percent.
My family and work issues look like they will continue into 2012. But I’m still exercising 5-7 hours per week, even through December. I’m lifting weights and running twice a week and spending 3-4 workouts on the bike, half indoor and half outside. I credit my exercise with making a major contribution to my physical and mental health.
Not having a major goal in 2011 no doubt took some of the edge off my fitness, as did the lower mileage total. I probably peaked in mid-August, with the PA 200k which I finished in 8:45, only 16 minutes off my best ever time even though I took about a 15-minute wrong turn up a hill. My actual wattage average for that ride was 161, which was third for any 200k I rode. I did a full brevet series for the third straight year and sixth year overall.
I’ll turn 55 next spring, old enough to qualify for the senior specials at Denny’s. With some careful riding, a little luck and good health, I hope to continue this sport that I love, but I may slow down and cut back a little. The superlong brevets, say 1000k and higher, take a big toll. I have done three of them and each one took months to get over physically. Maybe scaling back a little isn’t such a bad idea.
Jud
I’m spending a lot of time at home now on weekends, taking care of various new responsibilities. That means less time for riding a bike and no time for longer brevets. If I wind up with five hours a week of exercise total, including two days of weight training, that’s about average now.
Surprisingly, my power numbers are reasonably high, despite the decreased workload. Last week I averaged 455 watts for one minute, which was my highest total in more than a year. With the cold weather coming, I was going to cut down any way, so it won’t feel that different for the next few months. Hopefully, my responsibilities will lessen in the spring. If not, I’ll learn how to adjust.
The recent election for Randonneurs USA board members has featured a lively discussion on brevet safety. Some people advocate keeping statistics about how safe or dangerous our sport is, or having RUSA keep them. While there may be some dispute over the relative risk of brevet riding compared with other pursuits, such as driving a car, walking down a street or flying in a commercial airliner, anyone who has ridden one of the longer brevets has probably seen or experienced first-hand some elements of sleep deprivation. There can be no doubt that sleep deprivation has a negative effect on safety for those operating vehicles, motored or not, on the highway.
Perhaps because of the notoriously long time it takes to get into and out of controles, Paris-Brest-Paris seems to have more than its share of sleep deprived riders. From my own experience in PBP 2007, I recall one rider who was caught about 900k into the ride riding in the wrong direction, toward Brest instead of Paris. Many of my fellow riders by the last 300k looked like zombies. Many of the accounts this year give the same description.
Michael Breus, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who writes a blog called “Sleep Well” on webmd.com, observed in a July 28, 2011 posting, a few weeks before PBP, that extreme sports can lead to extreme sleep deprivation. He used the Race Across America as a prime example, citing a report that this year’s winner, Christopf Strasser, averaged one hour of sleep for the eight days it took him to cross the country. Strasser was quoted as saying that, by the end of the race, he did not know why he was riding.
We randonneurs debate a lot of safety issues, such as whether to use rearview mirrors or fenders, but we cannot seriously question the added risk that riding without sleep for 24 hours or more causes. I have experienced first-hand the hallucinations and irrational thought processes that come with prolonged lack of sleep. Motor coordinator suffers too. Dr. Breus suggests there is even evidence of increased risk of heart attack.
Read this description of sleep deprivation, from webmd.com:
“Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous. Sleep-deprived people who are tested by using a driving simulator or by performing a hand-eye coordination task perform as badly as or worse than those who are intoxicated.”
“Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 56,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1,500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since drowsiness is the brain’s last step before falling asleep, driving while drowsy can — and often does — lead to disaster. Caffeine and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of severe sleep deprivation.”
“The National Sleep Foundation says that if you:
“have trouble keeping your eyes focused
can’t stop yawning
can’t remember driving the last few miles”
“you are probably too drowsy to drive safely.”
Think about that advice the next time you start to feel drowsy on a bike (or behind the wheel of a car driving home from a brevet). Having trouble keeping your eyes focused? Can’t stop yawning? Don’t remember the last few miles? Then get off the bike. Pull the car over. Take a nap.
One of my riding buddies is a cardiologist. He has told me many times that he doesn’t think that riding 1200k on a few hours sleep is doing anyone very much good. In fact, he thinks that the human body is not capable of handling that kind of stress for that long. He didn’t cite me studies or other data, but he is a respected practictioner who reads the literature.
Most people, according to the prevailing wisdom among doctors, need between 6 and 8 hours of sleep each night. Most riders could not finish most 600k rides in the required 40 hours if they had to take a six-hour sleep break in the middle. Only the lucky few fast riders have that luxury.
The only way to ensure adequate time for sleep for longer brevets (those that last 600k and longer) would be to include a required sleep stop (or sleep stops) each night, with a corresponding extension of the finishing times to accommodate this. RAAM, in fact, has experimented with a two-tiered system where riders could opt for riding with required sleep breaks or not. It didn’t seem to catch on.
I suspect that instituting required overnight sleep periods would encounter resistance in our sport, too. But the more I learn about the subject of sleep deprivation, and the more I see what it does to randonneurs on long rides, the more I think it is an important, maybe essential, step. There is a line we cross, where the risk becomes too great to continue. In my opinion, sleep deprived riders cross that line.
Jud
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